Rare 12th Century found near Pickering sells for £24,000 at auction

A rare 12th Century coin minted by the "Alan Sugar of his day" has sold for £24,000 at auction.

The silver penny, which was issued in York by Baron Eustace Fitzjohn, was found near Pickering, North Yorkshire, by detectorist Rob Brown from Leeds.

Auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb said the coin was one of only 20 surviving examples with this design.

The coin attracted bids from Brazil and the US but was bought by a UK collector.

A second coin, a 12th Century silver penny struck during the reign of King Stephen and found near Lincoln in 2017, sold for £10,000.

Baron Fitzjohn was Lord of Malton and Knaresborough and served under King Henry I before supporting the Empress Matilda in a 20-year civil war against her cousin Stephen, a period known as The Anarchy.

His coin depicts a helmeted knight holding a sword on one side with the inscription 'Eustacius'. On the other side is a cross within a quatrefoil and the words "Ebor Acit Deft".

Nigel Mills, expert in artefacts and antiquities at Dix Noonan Webb, said: "Baron Eustace Fitzjohn was a Justician of the North and became a great monastic patron.

"He was, to some extent, the Baron Alan Sugar of his day, coming from a humble background but achieving great wealth and prominence.

"As it was a period of civil war, Baron Fitzjohn had the authority to have coins struck in York which were primarily for local use."